At 31-years-old, I’ve learned a lot of things. The number one lesson weighing my brain right now is that surprises can be hard to take right out of the gate, but when you have faith – everything turns out the way it was meant to be!
When we found out we were pregnant, it didn’t go how I expected it to go. I was laying down on the couch. My husband made some snarky comment on how I was “bitchier than normal” – and before I knew it he had left and returned home with not one, but two pregnancy tests. He said, “if the first one comes back negative, take the second – you’re definitely pregnant.”
Of course I rolled my eyes, then pulled my booty off the couch and headed to the bathroom. It was more of a stomping movement to the bathroom…like a teenager who didn’t get her way. I wasn’t sure if I was more pissed off about his comment or the fact that he paid more than $12 for pregnancy tests that you can get at the dollar store!
I peed on the first stick. Less than 10 seconds later the plus sign appeared.
***insert expletive here***
Well, that one obviously didn’t work. So…I took the second test out of the packaging. This one was idiot proof. I’m pretty sure it only took 5 seconds and the big old “pregnant” showed up on the tiny screen.
As Justin smiled with joy, I just sat there….on the toilet….staring at that little piece of plastic.
After a moment of silence to myself, I gave my hubby a hug and acted happy – then proceeded back to the couch where I had left my bag of chips and started eating again, while the tears rolled down my face.
We were supposed to leave for Punta Cana – a week-long, kid-free, all-inclusive adventure with our friends. Good ole Zika put an end to those plans. Instead I’d be waiting until summertime to sit on the dock and drink my Busch N/A – belly in tow.
It took me about 2-weeks to get over myself and realize how ungrateful I was. People wait their entire lives to see that positive test and here I was whining and complaining because I missed out on an 8-day vacation.
God works in mysterious ways.
Being pregnant again gave me the opportunity to finally quit my full-time job, to stop my 2.5 hour daily commute, to focus on my photography business (and Herbalife and LipSense – because one career route wasn’t enough for me) and most importantly – I have gotten a chance to spend the last couple months at home with my amazingly smart and happy 2-year-old. If I hadn’t gotten pregnant, I would have missed out on so much. This baby isn’t even born yet and he or she has already given me the gift of so much joy and adventure and happiness in my life!
Why the long story for our maternity blog? All of this combined was what made these photos incredibly important to me. What I thought was a mistake in the beginning, has turned out to be one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received – and I wanted this moment in time documented. Our lives are about to get crazier – and I couldn’t be happier!
Here we are, or were two weeks ago (as I’m already 37 weeks as I write this!) My family of three, ready to embrace life as a family of four!
Photo credit for all imagery: Kelcey Leitl (Kelcey, thanks for pulling through for us yet again!)
